As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  Steve kept on seeing those first figures he’d seen when the transformers blew as one man devoured another man’s genital area while another turned their victim’s brain in to mulch.And they’d still been alive, he remembered,still alive while two former colleagues did that to him.A shiver ran down his spine and he tried to focus his mind on finding the lifeboats and getting home, getting back to his family, his urge to protect them was overwhelming. All of a sudden Ken coughed violently coughing up big globules of phlegm that flew from his mouth and caught on the steel railing where it clung on. It was enough to get Steve gagging. The figures below heard and looked up, they saw them and started belching out their morbid calls as they reached up managing to poke their fingers through the grating they stood on. The sight of them all reaching up as if to catch them with their mouths wide open, eager to taste them made Steve weak at the knees for a moment, he felt like hewas falling in to them as they waited for him with open arms.

  “FUCKING HELL, KEN!” he yelled staring at him.

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hel....”he burst out coughing again before he could finish and doubled over.“C’mon,”said Steve and he started along the platform as hundreds of mangled black fingers reached up through the steel gating like black coral searching for its prey. Human prey.

  Steve led as the infected climbed over each other beneath them trying to reach up through the grating for them.

  “OH GOD!”said Ken.

  “For fuck sake Ken!”Steve snapped glaring at him close to losing it with him.

  “Ok. Ok I’m sorry,”he said as Katie called out,“Steve! They’reclimbingover each other, and some of them are reaching around the edge of the walkway.LOOK!”

  Steve glanced back and saw what she meant.“Didn’t take them long to work that out did it?”he said,“C’mon keep moving.”

  He led on walking briskly along the platform until they came to a corner that turned around the side of the rig. Steve peeked around checking the way was clear before leading on, while the group of infected underneath them followed their every move. The group was growing all the time as other infected people from across the rig heard the calls and followed. Katie looked back as she turned the corner and saw the first of them clamber up on to their walkway just like they had.

  “They’ve started coming over,”she called.

  “Ok, c’mon,”said Steve upping the pace, he didn’t want to run too fast in case they ran headlong into another group and couldn’t stop in time, so they jogged, faster than a brisk walk, slower than a run. Steve was ready to fight knowing that their chances of going back were disappearing fast. They carried on for what felt like forever to Ken and Steve was beginning to wonder if he was right about the lifeboats after all when a large black form appeared through the ash ahead of them against the side of the rig. They were on it in seconds before they could do anything about it.

  Katie gasped and reached out to grab Steve as Ken tripped and stumbled unable to skid on the grating, and as they came up to it the form turned out to be an open door.

  “God!” Katie sighed with a nervous chuckle and Steve looked inside. The door gave on to a corridor lined on either side by staff bunks. They only glimpsed down the corridor as they passed checking that the mouth of the corridor was clear for them to pass and that no infected people were about to jump out at them, they didn’t have time for anything else but it was clear that someone was trapped inside one of the bunks. Dark figures pounded against one of the doors down the other end moaning and gurgling! Steve urged them onwards.“We can’t stop,”he said as a woman cried out from down the hall. He glanced at the other two nodded in the direction they were headed and pushed on.

  Katie felt horrible as she hurried along after Steve, she couldn’t believe that she was leaving someone behind: a woman. It didn’t matter if it was a man or a woman, the fact was that she knew it was a woman and that she was trapped behind a door screaming and she’d left her behind.

  Steve didn’t think about it, he couldn’t, before he could help anyone else he had to help himself and the other two. He had to be safe before he could save anyone else and right nownoneof them were safe. His eyes hurt trying to see through the ash, it was gritty and the wind was cold and dried them out. He strained hard but couldn’t see anything further than a couple of feet ahead, all there was to see was a wall of ash in all directions until without warning he did see something.

  “YES!” he said slowing down quickly, the others saw as well and relief flowed over them.

  They were right next to a row of freefall lifeboats suspended from the side of the rig right beside them, they were almost completely hidden by the ash and Steve knew that if they hadn’t been looking for them they’d have most likely passed right by them.

  There were six of the big orange fiberglass capsules in the line with a thick layer of ash lying over them. Steve ran to the closest one, they’d passed two or three already before they knew where they were. He climbed up to its hatch practically jumping to the top of the ladder in one go and he spun the hatch open.“C’mon guys,”he said dropping back down to help them up. Katie went first climbing quickly but she hesitated at the top.“What’s wrong?” said Steve.

  Katie leaned back on the entry ladder and stuck her head inside.“Just checking,”she said, and then she jumped in. Steve sighed nervously as Ken dropped in right behind her chomping at the bit to get inside, half a second later and he would have been pushing her in. Steve followed and stole a glance back before he closed the hatch.

  The walkway they had just come along was alive with a bunch of murderous fingers poking up through the grid repeatedly clutching over and over again and they called out their awkward gurgle louder than ever as if they knew they were about to lose them. He looked back down the walkway thinking about the screaming woman wondering if he could risk it now they had somewhere to run to. But then through the swirling black snow somewhere along the platform he heard footfalls slapping against the grating, getting louder, closer! He’d seen enough, he dropped down inside the big orange capsule slammed the hatch and locked it tight....

  CHAPTER 19

  “Whoa guys, holy shit! Calm down it’s us, it’s me and Thom,”said Andy and immediately Leann and Collin stopped screaming and trying to fight them off. They both stood up slowly, still too scared to be embarrassed.

  “Jesus guys, what the hell’s wrong? I thought you’d both already gone home,”said Andy stepping back to give them both room. Thom stepped back as well and straightened himself out after their collision and used his lighter to find the candle that had blown out and relit it.

  Leann looked at Collin first.“You ok?”she asked.

  “Yea,”he said nodding and Leann looked at the two men.

  “You’re not going to believe me, well,us.I mean, it’s terrible. It’s horrible. I just can’t believe it! I can’t believe what I’ve just seen....”she burst in to tears before she could say anymore! Her body heaved frantically.

  “Whoa Leann it’s ok,”said Andy putting an arm around her.“What’s happened?”

  Leann went to say something but just couldn’t, her sobs took over and she pulled in to Andy’s shoulder. After a second Andy looked up at Collin standing there looking like a rabbit caught in headlights. Andy nodded at him and asked him what happened. Collin stood motionless not quite sure what to say or where to start, he couldn’t believe what he’d seen either,didn’t want to believe it.“Well, he started,“I’m not sure what or how to say this but here goes.”

  “I was on my way out when I Saw Leann. She was hiding down between the kids’ride-on toys and the photo booth.”Andy raised his eyebrows!“She was telling me to stay away from the front doors and the windows you know.”Andy nodded slowly.“I was just about to walk over to check on her when I thought I saw someone at the front doors. I looked, but I thought it was just movement in the ash, the wind or something but then I thought I saw a person lying on the ground. So I went over to see what it was in case I could help you kno
w....”he faltered for a moment remembering what had happened. Then he took a deep breath and blurted,“They were dead! It was Maggie. She’s dead!” “WHAT! Maggie’s dead!” Andy gasped.

  Thom flinched at the news and ran both hands over his smooth head, twice frowning!

  “And Jimmy. Jimmy’s dead as well!” Collin managed as he continued.“I, I think it was the truck driver. He was at the windows banging trying to get in.”

  “WHAT!What the hell do you mean?”asked Andy.

  “He was eating them!”said Collin.

  “RUBBISH!” said Thom.“C’mon, we’d better go and look for ourselves Andy, he’s delusional, they both are.”

  Andy was nodding. He said,“I think you’re right.”

  “NO!You can’t,”pleaded Leann through her tears.“It’s not safe! He’ll break through the glass and come in after us. I managed to block the doors at the last second, but he’s strong, it won’t take him long to break through! He was slamming the glass trying to break in just now because he saw us, and there’s more of them now, they want us like in that video me and Collin watched on my iPad.”

  “Eh!” said Collin looking up at her surprised.

  “Yea, I looked back as we were running just now and there were several of them, maybe four of them banging against the windows, and they looked like the dark people on that video!”

  “Oh, shit!” said Collin remembering the footage.

  Andy stepped away from the wall letting Leann go.“Right,”he said,“we’re going out there to see what’s going on, we can’t just stay in here when you’re telling us that people are badly hurt out there.”

  “They’re dead!Not hurt,”said Leann,“you’ll just stir them up whoever they are and they’ll break through the glass and come after us!”

  “Look Leann,”said Andy,“either way I’ve gotta go out and see for myself. I’ve got to go and assess the situation. You’re saying that you saw more people at the windows when you ran away.”

  She nodded.

  “What if they need help? That’s probably why they were banging on the windows. They need our help.”

  Leann understood where he was coming from and part of her worried he might be right, about the people banging on the windows at least.What if those people at the windows were just trying to find help,she wondered and she felt a pang of guilt.What if they needed us to help them to get inside and away from danger and we just ran away, she wondered.

  As for what went before, Andy and Thom were just going to have to see it for themselves. Collin felt bad as well hearing Andy’s logical take on it but he knew what he saw, and afterwhathe’d just seen, he wasn’t rushing back out, not yet at least. He wanted to tell them more but he couldn’t, he just couldn’t bear to think about the things he’d just seen, never mind try and explain or talk about them. Plus he knew that for them to ever believe him, or Leann they’d have to see it for themselves.

  Andy and Thom approached the swing door. Just before they got there Andy turned back and said,“You two wait here, or in the canteen. Don’t go anywhere else ok!”

  Collin and Leann nodded and Andy pushed open the door and looked out.

  The shop floor was quiet. He looked over towards the front of the supermarket and scanned the glass shop front, as much of it as he could see, there was no one there. No figures looking in or pounding at the windows, no shadows, nothing!

  “It’s clear,”he told Thom and moved out with Thom close behind mumbling something along the lines of‘I told you so!’

  “Be careful,”said Leann as the door swung shut behind them before either of them answered.

  Leann slid down on to the floor and crossed her legs.“I’m gonna wait here for them,”she told Collin,“I’m not going anywhere.”

  Collin nodded,“Me neither,”he said and he leaned against the wall opposite her replaying in his head what had just happened over and over trying to make sense of it, needing to understand it, even though he doubted he ever would.

  Andy and Thom walked quietly towards the front of the supermarket constantly scanning the place as they walked.“What do you think?”said Thom.

  “Fuck knows,”said Andy,“something’s definitely spooked them though. Hopefully we’ll find outwhatshortly.”

  Thom nodded.

  As they walked a little further Andy saw that the kid’s ride-on Noddy car was out of place.

  “She really did hide,”he said pointing towards it. Thom looked.

  “Hmm,”he said nodding not sure what to make of it.

  As they walked towards the front of the supermarket they came level with the row of absent tills and Andy came to a stop.“What’s up?”said Thom.

  “Nothing, I’m just looking. Making sure,”he said, and when he didn’t see anything he said,“C’mon,”and they carried on and started walking along the front of the shop between the quiet tills and the glass front. There was no sign of anyone or anything through the glass; just dirty black snow relentlessly covering everything in sight. Occasionally they looked down in to the deserted supermarket just to make sure no-one was still hanging around. All they saw was the flicker from the faint glow from the jam jar lanterns spread out here and there.

  “Should we call out for Maggie and Jimmy?”asked Thom.

  “Not yet, I know their story’s fucked up, and Idothink that the ash and the shadows played a trick on them. But I don’t want to draw attention to ourselves just yet. You saw the state of them, they definitely saw something that got them worried, and Leann’s not the type to daydream you know. She’s got her feet firmly on the ground that one.”

  Thom was nodding in agreement, he knew Andy was right and he carried on glancing up and down the shop front as they walked looking for anything out of the ordinary and after a few minutes he stopped dead!

  “LOOK!” he said pointing as something caught his eye through the glass up ahead.“Look! Look!Jesus Christ!”he blurted pointing and jabbing his finger at the air.

  “What!” said Andy,“what is it?”He was staring trying to work out what Thom was pointing at but he couldn’t see a single thing out of place, and then he did.“C’mon,”he said, and he started walking towards it. Just ahead of them there was a dark patch almost like a shadow along the bottom edge of the glass. As they got closer it began to look like some kind of shallow hump.

  Thom reached it first and knelt down beside the window trying to get a better look.

  He leaned against the window with both hands and peered out. Andy came up beside him and sighed,“C’mon, he said,“it’s just a drif....”

  “HOLY SHIT!” yelped Thom cutting him off and he flinched back from the window.

  Andy chuckled and asked,“What’s wrong?”

  Thom was just staring at the hump. Andy knelt down beside the window asking him again what was wrong and before Thom answered he saw for himself.

  His stomach turned over and his heart leapt in his chest.

  He fell back from his knees and landed on his bum shaking, beside Thom who was shaking just as much. It wasn’t a snowdrift they’d seen, there was a body lying on the ground pressed up against the glass. The body was on its side turned away from them facing out in to the car park.

  Before Andy even had time to take a second breath the body moved. It leaned away from them.

  “Holy shit!” said Thom,“do you think the kids were right?”

  “I don’t know,”said Andy trying to get a better look realising what was at stake here. He reached out and knocked on the window. Nothing happened. He knocked again, harder this time but there was still no response.

  “We’re gonna have to go outside and bring them in,”said Andy starting to stand back up.

  “Ok, I’ll go and get the jackets,”said Thom standing up with him.

  “No time for that Thom, we need to act right now. I’m going out there now.”

  “Oh, ok,”said Thom as Andy knocked again and this time he tried calling through the glass.

  He leaned in close and called,“Hey
, are you ok?”

  The figure moved ever so slightly back to its original position.“LOOK!” yelped Thom.

  “Yea I saw,”said Andy dropping back down to his knees and called again.

  “Hello? Can you hear me? Can you turn around?”

  He didn’t get any response. He tried again,“We’re gonna....”he stopped dead as the figure started to turn towards him. It leant back against the window and tried to turn its head, trying to see them.

  “Jeez!” said Thom,“look at their skin! They musta been lying in the damn ash for God knows how long.”

  The face that turned towards them was a patchwork of black and grey blotches. Thom went quiet; he didn’t know what to do next.

  Andy called again,“Hey, can you talk? Are you ok?”

  Both men watched intently as the person shuffled their legs a little and then their shoulders like they were trying to turn on to their back but were having to fight against the snow.“Yea, that’s it,”called Andy,“Keep going, you’re nearly there.”

  Thom dared to come back in closer and stood over Andy watching as the person slowly shuffled themselves around to face them and as they did Andy saw the person’s face full on and he was horrified to think the ash might be able do this to a person’s skin.

  “My God!”Thom gasped.

  Andy didn’t say anything, he daren’t, he didn’t want to worry the person. They were obviously already in a lot of distress. He just waited for them to turn around in their own time. The person shimmied around so far that they half fell the rest of the way on to their back and stared straight up at them causing them both to gasp in horror.

  Thom hopped back as Andy dropped back from the window and leant back on his knees and shimmied back a little.“What the fuck?” Andy said under his breath.“Jesus fucking Christ, that isn’t right!”